San Antonio leaders’ decision to pass on submitting to Amazon.com Inc.’s request for proposals for its second North American headquarters does not mean the Alamo City is entirely out of the hunt.

After several weeks of due diligence and soul searching, economic development leaders in San Antonio have instead taken a more novel approach to courting Amazon (Nasdaq: AMZN).

Jenna Saucedo-Herrera, president and CEO of the San Antonio Economic Development Foundation, said a team of local leaders from the public and private sectors spent weeks preparing an Amazon pitch. It became clear through that process that one of the bigger hurdles for the Alamo City would be identifying enough urban real estate.

“We conducted a thorough inventory,” Saucedo-Herrera said. “Getting very creative, we would have been able to cobble together enough [square footage] to get us there.”

The concern, however, was that the layout of that real estate may not meet the criteria outlined in Amazon’s RFP.

So San Antonio leaders have made a tactical gamble: Try to convince Amazon to look beyond the submissions to its RFP for a new home.

“We made the decision to stand down on the formal process. However, we have elected to respond on our own terms,” Saucedo-Herrera told me.

San Antonio leaders want Amazon leadership, including CEO John Bezos, to consider what it would mean to the company and its workforce to help redevelop the urban core in a historic and growing city, rather than just build a second headquarters somewhere.

“We know that — over the next five, 10 and 15 years — the city of San Antonio is going to transform before our eyes,” Saucedo-Herrera said. “Amazon is a transformative company. Their CEO seems very creative and entrepreneurial. He seems to be looking for different innovative solutions and ideas. I believe San Antonio is prepared and primed for that type of leader to come into our market and help us craft that transformation we’ve all been talking about.”

Other cities are expected to offer huge amounts of financial incentives to try and land Amazon. New Jersey, for example, is reportedly prepared to offer Amazon $5 billion in tax breaks over 10 years.

Meanwhile, San Antonio is pitching the opportunity for Amazon to help shape a downtown renaissance.

“We are not closing the door on Amazon. That needs to be made clear,” Saucedo-Herrera said. “I guarantee you that employees of Amazon would appreciate the opportunity to be part of the place making that we are all working towards now. We invite Bezos to be part of that.”